Rights groups ready to face Esperon’s perjury complaint

MANILA, Philippines – Rights groups said they will face the perjury complaint filed against them by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., stressing that the complaint poses a threat on the safety of human rights defenders in the country.

“We plan to file our counter-affidavit sa August 15. We expect them [Esperon] to respond, lalabanan namin ito. It will pose a greater danger sa mga iba pang human rights defenders,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan told reporters in an ambush interview in front of the Quezon City Hall of Justice on Thursday.

Human rights group Karapatan, women’s group Gabriela and religious group Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) are among the respondents named in Esperon’s complaint.

According to Assistant Prosecutor Nilo Peñaflor of the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, the groups will respond to the complaint through counter-affidavits in the next preliminary investigation on Aug.15.

In his complaint filed on July 3, Esperon claimed that the groups issued false statements in their writs of amparo and habeas data petition, which they filed to get court protection from alleged military harassment and from red-tagging.

Esperon alleged that the certificate of registration of the RMP had been revoked by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) since 2003.

Karapatan, however, said Esperon was “merely adding merit to their writs of amparo and habeas data petition” and that it proves that the government is “hell-bent on silencing its critics.”

READ: Esperon’s perjury complaint proves gov’t is ‘hell-bent on silencing critics’ — Karapatan

Esperon then challenged the cause-oriented groups, saying that the respondents must prove that they did not commit perjury.

“The very simple case of perjury, sagutin nila. Nagsabi sila na legal sila. Patunayan nila ngayon na hindi sila nag-commit ng perjury,” Esperon told reporters after the preliminary investigation into the perjury complaint at the Department of Justice, Hall of Justice in Quezon City.

Esperon identified Palabay, RMP coordinator Romeo Clamor, Gabriela Krista Dalena, Edita Burgos, Jose Mari Callueng, Wilfredo Ruazol, Eliza Tita Lubi, Reylan B. Vergara, Sr., Elenita Belardo and Sr. Emma Cupin, Joan May Salvador and Gertrudes Ranjo-Liang as respondents in his complaint  “for the felony of perjury in solemn affirmation as defined and penalized under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.”

Members of Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela also staged a protest to condemn Esperon’s perjury complaint while the preliminary investigation was ongoing at the Quezon City Hall of Justice. /muf